A Matter of Time
by A Diamond in the Rough
Summary: Elsa was murdered on her coronation day. As she opened her window, she was shot down from the courtyard. It is clearly stated in the records of the Guardians. One day, the statement changes; she was not killed, but fled to the mountains. The Guardians know there is only one other being capable of entering the past, and they will stop at nothing to stop him. Read, Review, and Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

My first try at a Jelsa fic. Read, review, and all that jive.

Enjoy!

I own nothing. Frozen belongs to Disney, ROTG belongs to Dream works.

I wish I owned HP though. There's a hp reference here, catch it and you get cookies!

* * *

Jack Frost had just returned from Australia.

Australia was always something of a sensitive point amongst the five Guardians. As it was the native country of Bunnymund, tensions ran high between him and Jack during winter, especially when a certain area in the country received snow. Bunny disliked anything disturbing the spring-like weather which he loved in Australia. He grew moderately frustrated when it was autumn weather during Easter, and positively murderous when it was winter in July.

Jack had tried to reconcile Bunny to this.

"Listen, they're in the Southern hemisphere," he had said. "If I do give them winter in Deecember, I'd cause a panic-there isn't anything I can do about it!"

"You could at least lay off the snow," Bunny had answered morosely. "Frost all the roads and windows and puddles you want, but lay off the snow, Jack? Please?"

"I can't. Kids like the snow," Jack had objected. "And no ones likes cold, dreary rain when there actually should be snow."

Bunny had refused to answer him, and Jack had sighed and departed.

But today, when he re-entered the room he had been dragged into months before when some Yetis had abducted him, he found the other four Guardians huddled around a map. It seemed to be a three-dimensional map, somewhat like a floating cube. Jack hooked his staff around his elbow and joined them.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, a map of the world," Tooth said, moving closer to the Sandman so that there would be more room for Jack on the bench. "One that incorporates time as well as distance."

Jack looked at the map in confusion. North turned it so that its adjacent side faced him. There were several lines running along this side of the map. The lines all ended in dates and times.

"Ah, I see now," he said. "I've never seen this before."

"You wouldn't have," said North. "That's because we Guardians never work in the past unless we absolutely have to."

"And what about the future?" Jack asked. The times on the longest lines were progressing by the second, but none of them existed past the current time.

"No, we can't meddle there, even if we wanted to," said Bunny.

"Then...why are you trying to fix something in the past, all of a sudden?"

"Worlds in the past, Jack...they don't exist unless a Guardian enters them. There's a different one for every moment, every minute; but unless we're inside them, they can't be," North explained. "The event here that we're looking at is in 1873 in Norway."

"Why? If they don't exist now, then you've already seen it, haven't you?"

"No. One of the event lines has changed."

"But that's-"

"Impossible, I know," said Tooth. "This one used to read, 'Murder of Queen Elsa of Arendelle by two minions of the Duke of Weselton. Shot from the palace courtyard while she was on her balcony, the day of her coronation. Immediately succeeded by her sister, Princess Anna.'"

"And what does it say now?" asked Jack, noticing for the first time that all the others were wearing glasses. Bunny caught him staring at them.

"You can't look at the event descriptions without wearing them," he explained. "We'll get a fourth pair made for you, soon, now that we know you might need them. We just had these made two years ago as a precaution."

"Oh. So, what does the event line say now?"

"Queen Elsa fled the palace the day of her coronation and created an ice palace on the North Mountain." said North.

"Oh. But...what's the problem with that? It's better than her getting assasinated, isn't it?"

"All the history in Arendelle after 1873 has been destroyed. Obliterated. There's not a single trace of it anywhere on the map. And this map records everything that happens of note. It doesn't say, for example, that I had carrots for breakfast today-"

"But did you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because Bunny made me."

"Er...all right then."

"And stop interrupting, lad."

"Okay, okay."

"The map notes births, deaths, major events in a the history of a person, a country, or the whole world. So, everything after Elsa's death has vanished, as far as Arendelle is concerned, and a fair number of lines that even reached into the present. The problem is that as we don't know what those lines were, we can't have any idea what's missing or different in the present time. It might have been something that affects us...but as history's seemingly changed, it hasn't happened."

"But the past can't change itself."

"No, it didn't," said Bunny, who had been silent for some time.

"Then, who did?"

"Pitch has all the powers of a Guardian, albeit one that isn't believed in," said Bunny. "Do you think he could have...?"

The others were all silent.

"He could have," said North warily. "But why would he want to save this woman?"

"Knowing Pitch, something foul," said Jack. "I thought he'd learnt his lesson."

Bunny snorted.

"Are you mad, Frost? He's not sane, but that's not to say he isn't dermined. Mark my words, saving Queen Elsa will give him something...something he couldn't have had, if she didn't have the chance to live out her life."

"He may just kill her later on," said Tooth quietly. "He's not going to be doing anything for her merely because he wants to save her, we all know that.. Pitch is there because we're not; without any guardians to stop him he can get anything out of this woman that he wants to."

"It does say that she turned a castle to ice," North pointed out. "However young she may be, she certainly isn't powerless and Pitch would undoubtedly scare her-"

"-which is sort of the point for Pitch-"

"-and she wouldn't hesitate to use her magic against him."

"Wait, do you mean she's got ice powers? Like me?"

"Wow, you are clueless sometimes, Jack, aren't you?" said Tooth in amazement. "We've said so twice or three times now."

"Can she just turn things to ice, or can she do what I do?"

"Don't know. She's built an ice castle, so I daresay she can."

"I think Jack should be the one to right this," said Bunny.

Jack leapt three feet in the air. Literally. "Why me? Oh, no, don't tell me this is some sort of crazy initiation-"

"No," said North catching him firmly around the waist and putting him back on the bench again. "She is like you, Jack. We might frighten her, and that would only strengthen Pitch; she's far too old to believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or Tooth, or Sandman-but you, you're like her, and you can use your powers to convince her that you're real."

"Okay," said Jack doubtfully. "I guess I can see your logic, though I can't...I can't see myself taking on Pitch alone."

"Bravery is what defeats him, Jack," said Tooth gently. "Give Elsa the bravery that she needs to keep Pitch well away from her-spread it to the people around her, if you need to. But I think only Elsa will be enough. Support her and when she's strong enough to stand up to Pitch, leave. Pitch will give up trying and come back here."

"But who's to say that he won't wreak havoc on other people?" Jack objected. "You forget there's a whole other world of people there. I can't come back until Pitch leaves. When he figures out I'm gone, he won't come back. He'll probably find the 1873 Pitch and hatch a master plan with his younger self. Give him the information he needs to never get defeated by the five of us in the first place."

"You're right," said North. "I'd left the 1873 Pitch entirely out of my calculations. You could defeat one Pitch on your own, Jack, but not both of them. Who knows, they might keep traveling back in time until they reach the Dark Ages and have amassed an army of Pitches from all the different times."

Tooth shuddered. "That's awful."

The Sandman made a large X above his head. The others realized he had been trying to say something, but no one had seen him.

"What, Sandy?"

He made an exasperated face and then made a picture of four or five Pitches, then drawing an X across them.

"Pitches must all die," said Jack, nodding sagely.

Sandy shook his head, and Jack's face fell. North's eyes lighted with understanding. "You're saying that no more than two Pitches can exist at the same time in any dimension. That the laws of time travel make it impossible."

Sandy nodded with a smile on his face.

"Okay, that being figured and knowing that there will be two Pitches," said Bunny thoughtfully, "I'll have to make two holes. One to Elsa's Ice Palace, for Jack, and one to Arendelle, for the rest of us."

"What about baby Tooth?" asked Tooth.

"Well , she can come. We have to prepare, anyway. Jack should leave right away."

"That works. But can your bunny holes do time?"

"Yes." He thumped his foot twice on the ground and a large hole appeared. "Now in."

Jack jumped.

* * *

Elsa's thrill had subsided.

She had never felt so alive and so free as she had when she had created the ice palace. Now she stood alone in the middle of her bare ice palace, looking about her. She looked at her door, and realized for the first time that she would never again hear Anna on the other side of it.

A sudden sob rose in her throat and she sank to the floor. She hadn't any doubt that Arendelle was in safe hands now. Anna would make a good and capable queen, and that Hans fellow didn't seem too bad, though his wanting to propose right away was just strange...there had to be something different behind it.

She was alone now. She didn't have a choice. She could never open the door and say, "Yes, I want to build a snowman."

Anna was too far away.

A sudden chill-which surprised her, for she could not feel the cold-rose in the room. A sudden crackling in the ice began and she looked warily around. The disturbance seemed to be originating in her balcony; there seemed to be someone outside.

Elsa crept up the stairs to the next floor, where she had a window which looked down upon the balcony. She stuck her head out of the window, only to see a boy sitting outside the balcony doors with a stick.

_How did he even get up here? And what is he wearing? How on earth can he stand the cold?_

She then saw that the boy seemed to be...shooting ice into the door? At once her heart leap into her throat.

"Damn," she heard him swear. "Why won't her ice listen to me?"

She made a decision.

She pointed her finger down at the boy, instantly freezing him solid in a block of ice. She hurried down the stairs and then cracked the ice in two.

"Who are you?" she asked. "How did you get here?" She looked at the staff, as if anticipating a blow which she would have to deflect.

"I'm Jack Overland," said the boy, extending his hand. Elsa shook it warily. He had ice-blue eyes, exactly like hers.

"Did you...?" She indicated the wide, shallow dent in her door which had not been there an hour ago.

"Yes," he said sheepishly.

"Why?"

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I just wanted to tell you...what you have, your powers...they aren't a curse. I have them too." He made a flurry of snowflakes come shooting out of his staff, and then went to sit on the balcony.

"I didn't think there was anyone else-were you born with it, like I was?"

"No...I died while trying to save my sister from drowning in a frozen lake. The man in the moon resurrected me and gave me my powers."

The Queen raised a skeptical eyebrow at his. He opened his mouth to defend his statement, but he didn't have the time. Something round and white came waddling out of the open doors.

"Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Jack screamed and fell off the balcony.

Elsa gasped and started toward it, only to gasp as a white head appeared at the railing and then rose, until Jack was flying four feet above the balustrade.

Her mouth fell open.

"Well, I can't do _that, _anyway."

* * *

Did you like it? Catch the HP ref?

Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

My first try at a Jelsa fic. Read, review, and all that jive.

Enjoy!

I own nothing. Frozen belongs to Disney, ROTG belongs to Dream works.

I wish I owned HP though. There's a hp reference here, catch it and you get cookies! No, not the same one as Chap. 1.

* * *

Elsa and Jack were now sitting on the balcony. Ten feet separated them; Jack didn't fancy getting frozen again, and Elsa really didn't want to be near anyone. She had almost speared Anna through the heart with an icy stalagmite before leaving Arendelle; she didn't want it to happen again. Granted, this strange boy could melt ice as well as create it, but unless his reflexes were in perfect working order, he was as likely to get skewered as anyone else was.

"So...um...your Majesty," began Jack awkwardly. "Have you seen a tall guy with black robes and grey skin anywhere?"

She shot him a look.

"No."

"Did you...dream about him?"

"No."

"Do you know anything about him?"

"Unless he's the Boogeyman, then no, I don't."

"Boogeyman! Have you seen him?"

"No."

Jack sank back to the balcony. He had propelled himself up ten feet in the air.

"You're unhelpful," he remarked after a moment of silence.

"Really?" Elsa answered acidly.

"Yes."

"So why are you here, anyway?"

"To show you some things, I guess." An idea came fully formed into his head. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Where will we go? And how will we get there?"

"We're going to the Sahara desert. And we're flying."

* * *

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Anna and Kristoff had been tossing around the poor snowman's head for a little while.

"Olaf..." said Anna in wonder. "Did Elsa make you?"

"Yes, and you are?"

"Oh, I'm Anna, and this is-"

"Who's the weird looking donkey?"

Kristoff's eyes widened at the insult to his reindeer. "This is Sven-" said Anna.

"And who's the reindeer?" Kristoff's eyes opened even wider.

"Um, Sven...where's Elsa, Olaf? Did she come this way when she left Arendelle yesterday?"

"Yes, she did. I just came down from her ice palace, as a matter of fact," said Olaf. "There's a boy with her-a boy with long white hair and a staff."

"Has he captured her there or something?" asked Anna, her voice fearful.

"No. They're sitting on opposite sides of the balcony," said Olaf. Then his eyes lit up. "I knew there was something I was forgetting! Oh yes, he can fly!"

"Fly?!" chorused Anna and Kristoff.

"Why? Shouldn't he?" asked Olaf. "I'd better go and tell him that he shouldn't."

The other two-no, three-rolled their eyes.

* * *

"Put me down this instant!"

"No, I won't."

"I'll freeze you solid if you don't."

Jack smirked. "And then we'd fall, what is it-two hundred feet? Three?"

"No!" begged Elsa, panicking. Ice began to form where she gripped his coat. "Please, don't do that."

"All right, I-" Jack stopped suddenly, holding Elsa with one arm. He looked around him. A strange chill was creeping up his side.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked Elsa, looking all about him in search of a sign of the elusive shadow.

"I'm terrified," she admitted.

_I'm terrified...I'm terrified..._

The words seemed to ring in Jack's head. A low, deep, evil sounding chuckle seemed to resonate throughout the landscape.

"What's that?" said Elsa, sounding every ounce as frightened as she had admitted to being.

"Elsa, I want you to look at me, and tell me you're not scared."

"But I am! How can I not be!"

"I promise that I'll never drop you."


End file.
